Look to the horizon of SEO, starting with effective competitive benchmarking to level-set executives, mitigate escalations, identify algorithm updates, and point to content gaps. Witness how the pioneering trends set by China's e-commerce landscape have been a portend for global SEO. Consider what may come from Generative AI and ultimately Artificial General Intelligence AGI. Key Takeaways: 1. Clear competitive benchmarking 2. Google mirroring Baidu's evolution 3. The advent of personal AI assistants

1. KEYNOTE
TORONTO, ON ~ APRIL 18 - 19, 2024
DIGIMARCONCANADA.CA | #DigiMarConCanada
Navigating the SEO of Tomorrow:
Competitive Benchmarking, China as an
e-Commerce Vanguard, and Gen AI to AGI
Mark Downing
SEO INNOVATION MANAGER
DELL TECHNOLOGIES

2. Mark Downing
SEO Innovation
Navigating the
SEO of Tomorrow

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3
Me
⚫
Дальний 大連 旅大
大连市 Dalian

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4
Global SEO
Challenges
180 countries
Targeting
B2C & B2B
Strong
Competition

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5
Three SEO Stories

China:
e-Commerce
Vanguard

Competitive
Benchmarking

Impact of
GenAI → AGI

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6
Have you experienced this?
1) Executives cannot find the “right” search results.
2) Stakeholders obsess over Google algorithm updates.
3) Content strategy is unfocused.

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 Competitive Benchmarking

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Competitive
Benchmarking
VANITY
REPORTING
doesn’t answer:
How are
we doing?
August January
?

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9
Competitive
Benchmarking
SEO
REPORTING
TOOLS
often too limited
& inflexible to
sufficiently
generate insight ?

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10
Rankings:
Competitive
Benchmarking
Baidu
Keyword Translation Baidu
Monthly
Volume
dell.com dell-
brand.com
baidu.com hp.com/cn hpstore.cn lenovo.co
m.cn
www.asus.
com.cn
mi.com huawei.co
m
yesky.com zol.com etao.com jd.com tmall.com taobao.co
m
suning.co
m
游戏机 gaming consoles 40,500 101 101 2 101 101 101 101 101 101 7 101 101 41 101 101 27
pc游戏 pc games 12,570 101 101 8 101 101 101 101 101 101 83 101 101 101 101 101 101
32寸显示器 32 inch display 6,300 101 101 1 101 101 101 101 101 101 17 101 56 13 101 101 21
游戏显示器 game display 1,800 77 101 5 101 101 101 30 101 101 10 101 101 31 101 101 101
游戏键盘 gaming keyboard 11,250 89 101 4 101 101 101 101 101 101 56 101 101 58 101 101 50
游戏鼠标 gaming mouse 6,600 101 101 1 101 101 101 101 101 101 27 101 101 39 101 101 101
高端游戏本 high end game book 900 101 101 8 101 101 101 101 101 101 7 101 101 44 74 47 66
120hz监视器 120hz monitor 1,200 101 101 2 101 101 101 101 101 101 101 101 30 17 60 101 38
144hz显示器 144hz display 24,000 101 101 1 101 101 101 101 101 101 28 101 101 22 101 101 25
240hz显示器 240hz display 2,100 101 101 1 101 101 101 101 101 101 35 101 101 29 80 101 101
24寸显示器 24 inch display 5,700 101 101 2 101 101 101 101 101 101 12 101 95 3 101 101 24
34寸显示器 34 inch display 1,200 81 101 1 101 101 101 101 101 101 70 101 58 8 101 101 10
freesync freesync 9,900 101 101 2 101 101 101 31 101 101 48 101 101 101 101 101 101
gsync显示器 gsync display 1,200 101 101 1 101 101 101 101 101 101 101 101 101 32 101 101 101
rgb键盘 rgb keyboard 2,100 101 101 2 101 101 101 101 101 101 71 101 49 20 78 101 101
外接显卡 thunderbolt 7,290 101 101 1 101 101 31 52 101 101 30 101 101 21 101 101 101
机械键盘 mechanical keyboard 105,000 101 101 1 101 101 101 101 50 101 101 101 101 101 101 35 101
游戏显卡 video game card 1,590 101 101 4 101 101 35 77 101 101 39 101 101 18 101 101 53
游戏显示器推荐 game display recommendation 540 101 101 2 101 101 101 101 101 101 6 101 101 92 45 101 65
游戏键盘推荐 game keyboard recommendation
1,470 101 101 5 101 101 101 101 101 101 18 101 101 101 101 101 82
游戏鼠标垫 gaming mouse pad 390 101 101 7 101 101 101 101 101 101 28 101 65 3 14 87 57
电竞耳机 gaming headset 2,700 101 101 2 101 101 101 101 101 101 18 101 101 17 101 74 101
Manufacturers
Dell Pay-for-Placement
IT Portals/Shopping Guides
Channel Partners
Retailers/Online Marketplaces
View exposes
rank challenges
Competitor Brands Info Sites eTailers
Dell.com
Keywords MSV
Middle
Bottom
Not Ranking
Top 10
gaming
monitor
1,800
searches
/mth
Dell
#77
Baidu
#5
Asus
#30
Yesky
#10
JD
#31

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Competitive
Benchmarking
ACTUAL
COMPETITION
is Brand
Manufacturers
Insight:
• Relative
Performance
• Algo Updates 
• Content Gaps 
Algo Updates: ⚫ Core ⚫ Helpful Content ⚫ Reviews ⚫ Spam –– rollout timeline
# of Results on “Page 1”
Google US Mobile | All Result Types
Thousands of Keywords → Millions of Monthly Searches
Top 3:
Rest:



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 China: e-Commerce Vanguard

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“History never repeats itself, but it often rhymes.”

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China:
e-Commerce
Vanguard
SHOPPING
JOURNEYS
Rarely begin on
search engines…but
on marketplaces &
e-Tailers
Brand sites may get
organic traffic, but
little conversion…
(specs, videos &
reviews)
China, well over a decade ago: North America catches up:

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During the “Era of
the Ten Blue Links”
Traditionally
a busy SERP
All SERPs are now stickier
Pinball Pattern
Game Gaze

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China:
e-Commerce
Vanguard
SERP
FEATURES
Baidu has always
been crowded
with features,
now ~ 60
Google caught up
& exceeded;
seoClarity has
counted 1,200
Eddie Choi’s Keynote at Econsultancy’s
Digital Cream Shanghai, 2012
!

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China:
e-Commerce
Vanguard
BAIDU’S UGC
Baidu has long
been ranking its
own “properties”…
...and now Google
too, notably around
Shopping
% of Clicks
Source: Experian Hitwise China, March 2013
Rest of
Organic
Results

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China:
e-Commerce
Vanguard
SOCIAL
SEARCH
has been an
essential part of
Shopping
Journeys
Perceived as
authentic, real &
relatable + curated
…

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China:
e-Commerce
Vanguard
SUPER APPS
China has always
been mobile-first
Rumours of X &
OpenAI to
become
“everything apps”

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SGE

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 GenAI to AGI

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GenAI to AGI
AI has been
part of Google
for many
years…
notably
RankBrain
2016 Google declared moving from a
mobile-first world to an AI-first one…
launching the Google Assistant

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GenAI to AGI
“AGI is 5
years away”
…but limited
by Compute

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GenAI to AGI: Talk from just a year ago
5 biggest tech firms
have 33,000
doing AI R&D:
Amazon: 10,113
Microsoft: 7,133
Google: 4,970
–Glass.ai
No GenAI model has a
clear advantage:
- AI knowledge diffuses
quickly
- Competing labs “all
hang out with each
other” …“nobody is
ahead of anybody
else by more than 2-6
months”
–The Economist
New search entrants
unlikely:
“Infrastructure to build
fully capable web
indexing operation has
been estimated to cost
$10-30 billion”
–The Economist

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GenAI to AGI: SGE & SEO
Mid-Term
• Answer Engine
Optimization needs solid
content strategy
• Subscriptions &
premium services
• New ways to get answers
(Gemini into Android as
an AI Assistant)
Short Term
• SGE Launch in May?
• Google assuring it still
requires Web content
• Must feed LLM & keep
ad empire
• Less but better-quality
traffic?
• Who “owns” answers?
• No metrics likely
Long Term
• Google’s first goal: the
“Star Trek Computer”
• Personal Assistants
• US Gov’t antitrust may
loosen in AI face-off
with China
• AGI + Compute =

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GenAI to AGI
Content is still
King
Answer Users’
Questions
Multimodal
“Preparing for SGE
Emphasis on Contextual Understanding
SGE's reliance on the Multitask Unified Model (MUM) for
query interpretation underscores the importance of context
in content creation…
...prioritize a comprehensive understanding of user intent,
moving beyond mere keyword optimization.
Content should [also] address…the broader context within
which it is asked.”
https://www.brightedge.com/google-sge

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
Learn from
other markets,
especially
China

Benchmark:
How are we
doing?
What are we
missing?

Search
evolves:
where, how,
why & when